A woman who developed vision problems following surgery began experiencing frightening hallucinations of alien faces, demons and animals. Alison Henthorne, 59, was diagnosed with Charles Bonnet syndrome after undergoing two major eye operations to repair a detached retina, which left her with significant blind spots.
Soon after returning home from hospital, she started witnessing disturbing images of alien faces, demons and animals throughout her daily routine. Alison became deeply frightened – despite knowing the hallucinations weren’t real, she grew increasingly worried she was “going crazy” – until her own research uncovered information about Charles Bonnet syndrome.
The uncommon condition isn’t an indication of mental illness or dementia, but rather occurs when the brain generates images to make up for reduced vision.
“I had an operation on my eye and then I started to notice creatures everywhere,” said Alison, who lives in Bedfordshire. “I’d see strange creatures with purple eyes – then I’d see another one floating around near me.
“I’d wake up and see what looked like alien beings coming towards me in my peripheral vision, as soon as I’d wake up and open my eyes. I even saw something that looked like a spaceship, firing out laser beams in the garden one night.
“It wasn’t just bizarre – it’s actually really scary and it made me really anxious. I was walking around thinking I was going crazy because I was seeing all this stuff everywhere.”
Despite being aware that the images were not real, Alison was too frightened to share her hallucinations with friends and family, fearing they would label her as “crazy.”
Her online searches led her to articles about schizophrenia and dementia, but her only symptoms were the terrifying hallucinations. In desperation, she even sought a priest’s blessing for herself and her home, hoping it would put an end to the hallucinations.
“I was so scared to actually tell anyone about it,” she confessed. “I thought I was going completely mad. I even got a priest in to bless the house and me because I was so scared.”
After months of battling with these symptoms, Alison attended a check-up appointment, following delays due to issues at the hospital. While trying to find a way to communicate her experiences to medical professionals, Alison’s research led her to a charity aiming to raise awareness of Charles Bonnet syndrome, which brought her immediate relief.
“Just before I went back to the hospital, I Googled eye conditions, and Charles Bonnet syndrome came up,” she revealed. “I still didn’t know for sure until I went to see the consultant and I was still worried about telling him in case he thought I was crazy.
“I spoke to the consultant, who confirmed it was Charles Bonnet syndrome, but he offered me no advice or anything. Thankfully, I’ve been back to the hospital since and they are going to refer me to someone who specialises in eye conditions like this.”
Despite the lack of a cure, Alison’s hallucinations have lessened in severity over the past few months. She is now on a mission to raise awareness about the condition and debunk some misconceptions surrounding the syndrome.
“The whole experience has been absolutely terrifying and extremely bad for my mental health,” she confessed. “It’s not a mental health issue – it’s to do with the brain; it still thinks the eye can see.
“All these years I could see and now suddenly, I can’t – so the brain is trying to send images to the eye, but for some reason it sends bizarre images you can’t control. It’s a physical disease with a physical symptom and not knowing this can really affect people’s mental health.
“For me, perhaps it could have been recognised earlier, but it might not even have dawned on me that it was anything to do with my eyes. I want to make other people aware – I don’t want anyone to suffer what I went through.”